Midterm report card for Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 regular season

An often overlooked unit by the casual football fan is special teams, but us diehard fans know just how important the special teams unit is to a team’s success. So far special teams have been on their game if you will pardon the pun… or punt. (sorry, Dad joke, and a bad one at that)

Tommy Townsend has performed extremely well with his punting and holding duties, usually making sure the opposing team has to cover a lot of real estate before reaching pay dirt, also, just how much fun was that fake punt against the Jets?

Kickoff coverage has been good as well, with a notable mention going to Byron Pringle for his 102-yard kick return against the Broncos. This unit has also become more disciplined, and the penalties that used to occurred at the end of almost every return, now happen with a lot less frequency. It used to be that wherever the returner got the ball, go ahead and subtract ten yards, but that has been the case this season less and less, making the offense’s job 10 yards easier.

Now, as much as I have always liked him, in the interest of fairness the following must be stated about Harrison Butker. When Butker is on, he’s a top three kicker in the league. In the first nine weeks of the season, however, he has missed six extra points, which is totally unacceptable.

I’m quite certain that no one feels worse about it than Butker, and I do not relish writing a single word of this, for I have always been a big fan of his and still am, but six points… I mean that is basically giving up a touchdown in extra points.

It is one thing to miss a 50 yard field goal, but any NFL kicker with Butker’s experience should have no problem kicking the point after attempt. Luckily, those missed extra points have not been the deciding factor in any games this season, but it very well could have been against the Panthers. If Joey Slye made his 67 yard field goal, the Panthers would have won thanks to a missed extra point (and also a missed Butker field goal).

It seems like a small matter, but those points add up and could some day be the difference between a win and a loss. Because of this, I’m afraid I must subtract a full letter grade from an otherwise stellar special teams unit.